There's Always Another Day
by the-never-ender
Summary: After two bitter weeks of denial, Cassidy finally accepts John as her half-brother, but can everyone else accept it? Features John O'Callaghan, Kennedy Brock, Jared Monaco, Garrett Nickelsen and Pat Kirch from The Maine
1. I Know We're Getting Closer

"Get in a little closer, everyone."

This was ridiculous. Which women in their right mind are taking family photos with their husband's illegitimate child? My Mom, of all people! Why was my mom such a forgiver? We moved in closer together, making me more uncomfortable standing next to my newly found half-brother, John. He shifted his position a little bit, avoiding all means to make any contact with me.

"Okay, perfect!" mother exclaimed. She set up the camera in timer mode and ran next to me. "Everyone smile!" The light from the camera blinked five times in a row before it flashed. We were all going to leave until Mom stopped us. "We have to take one more picture."

"Honey," Dad walked up to her. "We took many pictures. The kids are getting a little irritated," he glanced at me and then John. "We can take family portraits later on."

Mom sighed. "Alright, then," she took down the tripod and looked at me. "Why don't you show John around town? You guys haven't really had the chance to talk to each other," she smiled.

"But Mom, I have to finish my senior project. If I fail this, I…"

"It's the beginning of October for crying out loud," Mom's eyes widened. "You have until June to work on it. Why can't you make time to be with your brother, Cassidy?"

John stepped beside me. I felt already short being only 5'4" but he made me feel like a bug standing next to his 6 foot something body. "Mrs. Berwick, its fine. You don't have to worry about me. I also have to work on senior project, too."

Mom patted John's shoulder. "Are you sure?" he nodded. "Okay, then. I call both of you guys when it's time for dinner. One more thing; John, call me Sue, okay? You're family here, always remember that."

She left the backyard, leaving John and me standing there alone. I was going to leave until John held my hand.

"We need to talk," John advised.

I turned and crossed my arms. "About what?"

"Come on, Cass. Don't act all stupid around this topic."

"I'm not acting stupid around this topic," I yelled. "I get it. Now, I'm related to you and there's nothing I can do about it."

"Why do you hate me so much?" John glared at me. "I haven't done anything to you."

"I don't hate you, John. I hate this whole situation. I hate the fact that my dad cheated on my mom and how my mom is accepting this like it's no big deal. It _is_ a big deal," I felt tears coming down my eyes. "You just don't understand because you're the one who is benefiting from all of this."

"How the hell am I benefiting from all of this? You're not the one who has the parent who left you because she has issues," he strikes back. "You're lucky, Cass. You don't know it. I would kill to have your life because you have parents who are always by your side when you need them and they will never leave you," John stormed out of the backyard while I was left speechless and guilty.

I wiped my tears off my face and walked inside the house. I tried to look like nothing happened out there until Mom saw me.

"Honey, is there something wrong?"

I shook my head and forced a small smile on my face. "No Mom, I'm fine. It's, it's just allergies," I continued walking up the stairs towards my room. John's bedroom door was open and he was on the computer, working on his proposal for his project. I didn't know if I should walk in his room and apologize or just wait for him to come to me. I walked inside his room.

John looked up from his laptop and saw me come in. "If you're here to annoy me on how much you hate your life, please leave the room."

"I'm not here to complain," I replied and he seemed shock about it since his eyes widened. "I'm here to apologize about what I said. I've been too selfish to realize that you're the one who's going through tough times here, not me," I sat down on his bed.

John closed his laptop and sat down next to me. "You're going through tough times, too. I guess I would react the same way if I were you."

"I think you are since now you found out that you have a half-sister who's a complainer. I think you're getting the short end of the stick here," I grinned.

He chuckled. "Yeah, that sucks," I playfully hit him on the arm. "Anyway, I accept your apology. I'm happy that we can actually get along."

"Me too," I smiled.


	2. Where Did You Go?

It was two weeks ago when I found out I had a half-sister. My mom was drugged out of her mind and she decided to ship me off to my Dad's so she could have some time alone to "get better." Marybeth O'Callaghan was my mom. She was a famous musician who fell off into the deep end when fame got to her head. She and Dad met when he was a guitar tech at one of her shows in Tempe. It ended up being one of those one night stands and she left him alone the next day. She told me that Dad was married so that was why she had to leave. I guess my parents weren't smart enough to use protection since I came into the picture. On top of that, Dad's wife was pregnant at the same time when this happened.

Even though my life was filled with luxury, I hated it. Mom was always using some fucked up substance that made her lose her mind for days and Dad…obviously he wasn't around at all since he had a family of his own.

I remembered the moment when Mom broke the news that I was going to be living in Tempe with Dad. All I could think about how awkward it would be to have my dad's wife and kid(s) in the same house as me. I was the illegitimate child here. I needed to understand that they weren't going to accept me that quickly.

Mom packed her bags to get ready for Italy for her recovery while I packed my bags to live with Dad. Mom was the one who left first. She hugged me and told me she was going to get better. I didn't know how many times I heard that before. I carried her bags to the limo. I didn't know why the hell she wanted to be in a limo. I waved goodbye and went back inside the house to grab my stuff and put it in my car. I decided to drive. I didn't know the use of flying. I drove five hours from California to Tempe, Arizona. As each mile went by, I grew nervous. I remembered my hands being all sweaty and my heart racing.

When I got there, Dad and his wife, Sue was welcoming. It was my half-sister Cassidy who was giving me the cold shoulder. Those first two weeks were hell around her. She would give me death glares when I passed by her. She ignored me in the hallways at school. She denied to everyone that she was even related to me. Luckily I made friends with Garrett, Kennedy, Jared and Pat, the dudes from my Art class so I wasn't a complete loner.

I guess the whole incident in the backyard after the family picture taking thing was a revelation. We both got along and now, we were in my bedroom talking about stuff siblings talked about.

"I absolutely hate senior projects," Cassidy complained, again. "I don't know what to write for the proposal. I don't even know what my senior project will be!"

"Well…my senior project is doing graphic designs for band merchandise. Do you like drawing?"

"No, I suck at drawing," she rubbed her head. "Maybe I should do a benefit concert."

"That's a really cool project, actually," I replied as I lay down on my bed. "Who is this benefiting to?"

"Hmm…" Cass wondered as she looked up to the ceiling for inspiration. "Breast Cancer?"

"That's a good one. There's this one organization called 'Keep-A-Breast' that can help you with this project. They have you fill out a form on the details of the event planning," I grabbed my laptop and opened it up. "I'll show you the website."

Cassidy lay down beside me as I searched the internet for the website. "Have you talked to your mom yet?"

I wasn't sure why she asked that but I shrugged. "We haven't talked to each other ever since I got here. In all honesty, I rather live here than with my mom," I clicked on the link to Keep-a-Breast. "She always made the same stupid mistake over and over again."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," I turned the laptop to her. "Here's the website for the organization. The form is located at the top," Cassidy never looked at the laptop; she looked at me with a frown.

"You can talk to me about this, if you feel comfortable talking about it. I'm right across the hall."

I smiled. "Thanks."

She smiled and nodded. "So this is the website?"

"Yup, there's all the information about this organization and you can search the bands that are supporting the cause. You never know. Maybe you'll have Paramore perform at your benefit concert."

She laughed. "I wish."

"John! Cassidy! Dinner is ready!" Sue yelled from downstairs.

I got up before Cassidy called my name.

"John," I looked back. "Thanks for forgiving me."

I smiled. "No problem. I understand the whole situation," I pulled her up from the bed. "Come on, let's go eat!"

She grinned and followed me down the stairs to the dining room.


	3. Everyone Knows That Something's Wrong

John and I rode to school together for the first time ever since he got here. I remembered the first day of school when people were asking me if we were related. I denied it completely and obviously it hurt him. I didn't know why I was like that in the beginning. It wasn't his fault he was put into this kind of position. I needed to make it up to him, so I guess him having drive to school with me was a start.

We parked in the senior parking lot and got out. We walked together to the cafeteria. John waved at four guys who were hanging out by the school stadium. I knew all of them. Pat had Chemistry with me while Jared had English class with me. Both Kennedy and Garrett had homeroom with me, but Garrett had Calculus and he sat behind me. So they were the guys John has been hanging out with all this time. I remembered John telling my parents that he made friends in Art class. That must be them

I guess they were surprised seeing me with John since I have been sort of a bitch to him from the very beginning. John must have noticed.

"They weren't expecting you, huh?" John whispered to me as we were walking towards them.

I shrugged. "Yup."

The boys tensed up as I got closer. Was I that intimidating? Alright, so maybe I was the eye-rolling preppy chick who didn't like people below my standards. I didn't realize how bad I was until John came along. He was the one to snap me back to reality.

"Hey, you guys," John greeted as we approached them. They all replied in small smiles and head nods. This was not awkward at all.

Kennedy gave me a suspicious look, but looked away. "So John, did you do the homework for engineering?"

"Dude, that shit was easy!" John gave Kennedy a high-five as the rest of the guys laughed.

I chuckled quietly since I didn't want to bring any attention to myself. Pat glanced over at me and John. "You guys really do look like you're related. You almost look like twins except the whole slight height difference," the guys laughed as I looked up at John, who was possibly a foot taller than I am and he was right. We both have the fair skin complexion, brown eyes, chocolate brown hair and nose.

I smiled. "Yup, we are definitely siblings."

Kennedy looked at me. "So now you're accepting the truth? That took you a while," Jared smacked him on the shoulder. "Geez…just saying."

Jared rolled his eyes. "Ignore him. Sometimes he can be a douche."

"I'm not the mean one here," Kennedy mumbled to himself.

I ignored what he said. As my eyes wandered around, I saw my boyfriend Ryan, along with my best friend Trisha. They were giving me strange looks as they approached me. Probably surprised that I was hanging out with the guys; in our school John's friends were at the bottom of the food chain while Trisha and the rest of them were at the top.

Ryan ran up to me and kissed me. "Hey Babe," he looked at the guys. "Why the hell are you hanging out with these losers?" he whispered in my ear.

"They're my brother's friends," I replied.

He looked at John and smirked. "I thought you guys weren't related?"

"We are," John intervened in the conversation.

Ryan snorted. "I wasn't talking to you, dumbass," John was about to charge him, but I blocked him.

"Don't start, please," I advised and John backed down. If John were to charge Ryan, Ryan would be knocked out in no time. "You know, maybe you should take the insults down a notch," I told Ryan.

"Whatever," Ryan rolled his eyes. The bell rang and all of the students were heading to first period. "I'll walk you to Calculus," he offered.

I shook my head. "No it's fine," I replied. "I'll see you later," I walked off leaving him. Ryan yelled something inaudible and I knew it was some insult again. He liked bringing down others as a hobby.

Garrett was walking behind me and I stopped to wait for him. He was surprised, but smiled. "No offense, but I thought you only hung out with the 'in crowd?'"

"I'm trying to change here," I grinned. "You are a cool guy. I need to talk to you more often in Calculus and homeroom."

"Make sure Ryan doesn't get pissed," Garrett opened the door of the building. "After you."

"Thank you," I walked in. "Ryan is not that bad of a person either."

He snorted. "Because he's your boyfriend. Of course he wouldn't say anything bad about you, at least when he's in front of you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What? Does he talk shit behind my back?"

Garrett shrugged. "I'm not saying that. I'm looking through this from the outside and from what I see, he's a backstabber."

He opened the classroom door and I walked in.

"Thanks," I sighed and took my seat in the classroom.

Garrett sat behind me and leaned forward. "I'm sorry I said that your boyfriend was a backstabber. I didn't mean it," he whispered in my ear.

"It's fine," I lied and took out my textbook to busy myself from all of this.

I felt Garrett leaning back on his chair and saying something I couldn't hear well. I ignored it and paid attention to Mr. Becker. Trisha came to class 20 minutes late giggling. She probably made out with Chad, her boyfriend since she always giggled when they do stuff like that.

She sat down beside me and handed me a note. I opened it.

_Is it true that John is your brother?_

I grabbed my pencil.

_Yeah, he's my brother._

I handed her the note and she gasped…loudly.

My classmates gave her weird looks and Mr. Becker glared at her. Trisha on the other hand rolled her eyes and flipped her hair.

This was going to be a long day.


	4. You Never Seem to Understand

Calculus was finally over and since it was Homeroom schedule, I decided to walk with Garrett. Trisha was shocked when she saw me walking with him.

"Why are you walking with that freak?" Trisha asked as me and Garrett was walking through the hallways. I knew he heard that.

"He's not a freak, Trish. He's human," I sighed. "He has Homeroom with me."

"Whatever," she took out her brush and fixed her hair. "By the way, how come you were denying that, what's his face, that his was your brother in the beginning?"

"I was going through tough times and I thought that denying that John was my brother could pull the attention away from me. I regret doing that, alright," we breezed through the hallways. "John is my brother and I'm not denying it."

Trisha touched my forehead. "Are you coming down with something 'cause this is not the Cassidy I know."

I rolled my eyes as we opened the door to Homeroom. "See you later, Trish," I waved goodbye to her as Garrett walked in the room. We both sat the last row. My other friends were staring at me like I was high on something. They signaled me to come over, but I shook my head.

"Forget her," I heard one of them muttered. Why the hell did I have such cruel friends?

Kennedy walked in the room and was shocked to see me sitting next to Garrett. He sat in the row in front of us and turned his chair towards me. He gave me a stern look, and then smirked.

"I'm not sure what you're doing, Cassidy but so far, all of your friends are talking about you and how you changed. You might lose some friends."

I shrugged and took out my Calculus book to do the homework problems.

Kennedy sighed. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm acting like a douche to you lately, but I just think this whole revelation of accepting John as your brother is pretty sudden. I'm not sure if I should trust you."

I looked up at him. "You barely know me, Kennedy. All you know is the fact that I'm the bitchy preppy chick who hangs out with bitchy preppy people. There's more to me than this," I took out my calculator as I worked on the Calculus problems. "I'm not bitchy all the time."

Kennedy sighed as Garrett patted my back. "I know you're not like the person we see every day in the hallways. It's just the fact that after those two weeks where you pretty much shunned John, you made everyone think that you are really mean."

"I regretted doing that to him," I replied quietly. "I'm a bad person."

Kennedy reached out for my hand. "Anyone can change their ways and prove everyone wrong. You just have to make some sacrifices," I looked over to my group of friends who were glaring at me the whole time.

John was my brother, we were blood related. From now on I wasn't going to deny the fact that he was my brother.

Now all I needed was my friends to support me.

{John}

Throughout the day, I heard many people talking about Cassidy. When they saw me in the hallways, they whispered and gossiped. She was sacrificing her reputation here all because of me. It was better off that she denied me since she didn't lose any friends, but from what I heard, her friends were not respecting her decision for accepting me. I needed to talk to her.

Lunch came around. I sat down on corner of the cafeteria along with the guys. I couldn't talk to Cassidy now, since her table was in the middle where all the preps hung out. If I was to go there, they would insult me and I wanted to avoid a fight.

Cassidy was talking to her boyfriend and it looked like they were arguing. Then her friends started gaining up on her. I didn't know what they were arguing about. The guys noticed as well.

"Why are they arguing?" Jared asked.

Pat shook his head. "Whatever it is, they are all blaming Cassidy."

As the whole cafeteria watched the madness, the yelling became more audible.

"Just accept it already!" Cassidy snapped. "You're supposed to support me! Not bring me down!"

"Screw you, Cassidy!" Brenda, one of her friends, yelled back. "Screw you! You're not worth it!"

Cassidy stormed out of the cafeteria. Trisha was going to follow her, but Brenda held her back.

I stood up from the table.

"Dude, where are you going?" Garrett asked.

"I'm going to get my sister," I walked out of the cafeteria. Cassidy was sitting down under the oak tree. She glanced up at me, and then looked down.

"Why are you here?"

I sat down next to her. "What happened back there?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing. It's just my friends being assholes."

"Is this like a normal thing?"

Cassidy nodded. "This happens all the time, even before you got here," she crossed her legs. "They just like insulting me, I guess."

"That's messed up," I bit my lip. "If they ever do that to you again, I swear they…"

"Don't start a fight, John. Please don't," her eyes rested on mine. "That's the last thing I want to happen."

I sighed. "I'll stay here with you, then," I smiled.

"That's better, my bro," she grinned.

**Sorry for the long update! Thanks for reading!**


	5. I Will Be Waiting There

Cassidy sat silently at the dinner table eating, still not getting over the incident that happened in the cafeteria earlier in the day. I wouldn't blame her. Her fucked up friends shot her down. I wasn't sure what happened after lunch since we didn't have any classes together but Pat had Chemistry with her third period and he told me her friends completely shunned her. Pat offered her to sit by him at his table, but she denied the offer and stayed at the same table with her friends. I felt so bad for her. Ever since I got in the picture, nothing but bad things happened to her. Cassidy insisted that it wasn't my fault and that her friends were always like that to her, but why would she stay friends with them if they treated her terribly in the first place? Obviously she was lying.

Ryan was an asshole to her, too. I wanted to beat the crap out of that guy for hurting my sister. He never talked to her ever since the lunch incident. Cassidy tried to talk to him after school, but he completely shot her down. When I was going to intervene, Cassidy shook her head, signaling me to step back. How could I not step back when she was being treated badly? I just didn't want Cassidy to be down like this.

When dinner was over, Cassidy and I were the ones who cleaned up the dinner table and the dishes while Dad and Sue headed to the living room to watch a rental movie. The movie was some romantic crap so both Cassidy and I passed the offer when they asked us if we wanted to watch it with them. This was the perfect time to talk to her about all of this mess, hoping to make some resolution out of it.

Cassidy glanced at me while we were cleaning the dishes. "John, is there something wrong?" I never understood why she asked me that question. I should be the one asking her.

I shook my head. "No," I continued to dry the dishes and place them in the cabinet. "Are you okay?"

She sighed and shrugged. "I'm just happy today is Friday. I don't have to deal with the crap at school until Monday," she situated the plates by me.

"Yeah me too."

Cassidy gave me a puzzled look. "What? Are you dealing with drama in your social life as well?"

"No, I mean I'm happy Friday is here since there's no school and we can hang out tomorrow."

"The both of us?" She raised an eyebrow. "Like one of those cheesy brother-sister hang out where we go to the amusement park and eat cotton candy?"

I smiled. "That actually sounds pretty awesome." Cassidy laughed. "But what I really mean is hanging out with the guys."

"Great, so I'm going to be the only girl at this hang out?"

"Do you want to hang out tomorrow or what? Answer now," I insisted.

She grinned. "Okay, okay. I'll go with you guys, but do the guys know I'm coming along?"

"Kennedy was the one who created the idea." It was true. During fourth period, Kennedy was the one who wanted Cassidy to come with us on Saturday, which was pretty odd since he wasn't really fond of her at first. The guys suspected that Kennedy might have a slight crush on her, which will add another problem on my list. Man, it was stressful to be an older brother (by a couple of weeks).

She nodded. "Okay, I'll come." I sensed the happiness from her.

I grinned and we went on with putting away the dishes. We both went up to our respective rooms after that and did our own thing. I started working on some sketches for the band shirts I was doing. Three local bands gave me the chance to make some of their t-shirt designs so I was pretty stoked. I also visited one of the graphic design companies in Tempe to see how it was like to work there. My senior project was coming along well. I wondered how Cassidy's was going. The last time I talked to her about it, she was searching around for a venue for the concert to take place. My curiosity got the best of me and I decided to go see how she was doing.

I knocked on the door.

"Come in," she answered.

I opened the door and saw her in front of her computer on her bed. She grinned when she saw me and gestured me to sit down beside her. "What are you working on?" I asked.

"Essay for English and filling out the application for the benefit concert," she replied as she was continuously typing on her computer. Cassidy looked up at me. "Can I ask you a question?"

I nodded. "Sure, what is it?"

"Does…" She took a deep breath. "Does Kennedy hate me?"

My eyes widened. "What? No, he does not hate you. He was the one who wanted you to come with us tomorrow. What made you think that?"

"He's been giving me the cold shoulder ever since I became close to you. I mean he apologized to me about his attitude at Homeroom, but I guess he was forced to do it since you're friends with him."

"That's just him. He doesn't really like the "in" crowd. I'm sorry he's like that."

She nodded. "I understand." Cassidy continued typing on her computer.

I sighed. Tomorrow was going to be interesting.

**So sorry for the long update! So sorry!**


	6. Anytime You See Me

It was weird being the only girl in the van with a group of guys surrounding me. Jared was the driver while John was in the passenger seat. Garrett and Pat sat in the second row while I was left with Kennedy in the back. Occasionally I would see John looking back at us. I didn't know what made him do that. Maybe he was making sure Kennedy didn't act like a douche to me. The guys were doing their dude talk while I sat silently looking out the window. This was not really the best idea. I knew I would be odd girl out and it just felt awkward being here.

Garrett turned to me. "Why are you being so quite back there? You can talk, even if it's girl stuff."

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure if you want to listen to me about girl stuff. That would be weird for you guys."

He shrugged and turned around. "I think it's weird when you're super quiet. You're usually so talkative at school."

School. Remembering what happened yesterday made me dread every going back to school again. It was tiring and I never wanted to deal with the bullshit that was going on there. I didn't even want to deal with Ryan anymore. He was getting so caught up in the drama as well that our relationship shattered. I wouldn't be surprised if we broke up on Monday. He obviously didn't want to deal with a girl who was below his standards.

Kennedy glanced at me with worried eyes. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "I'm just thinking about school and all the shit I have to deal with on Monday," I sighed. "I honestly never thought this was going to happen, my friends shunning me and Ryan on the verge of breaking up with me. I never realized the crowd of people I hung out with didn't have a good influence on me."

He draped his arm around my shoulder. "Things are going to get better. Like the old saying, 'things happen for a reason.' Maybe this whole incident is making you realize that the crowd of people you hung out with the whole time never benefited you as a person."

I gazed up at him. "I guess you're right. Man, you are like the voice of reason," I smiled.

"I guess so," he smiled back.

Garrett turned around again. "Aww… exchanging loving glances."

"Looks like little Kennedy got a new crush," Pat taunted with a smirk on his face.

Kennedy quickly took his arm away from me and slouched back on his side of the seat. I swore he was blushing. The guys laughed (except John, he sighed) as I quietly chuckled at what was going on. Kennedy stayed quiet throughout the trip. It seemed like we drove for hours going to this unknown location.

When we finally reached our destination, we all got out of the car and walked around the area. It was the beach. We traveled all the way to California to go to the beach. I was shocked, but at the same time was happy. I never went to the beach before. I only saw it on movies and this beach was as pretty as the ones I've seen on the silver screen.

The guys proceeded to take their shirts off and ran towards the water. I stayed behind and sat down on the sand, letting the scenery sink in to me. Garrett kept on signaling me to join them, but I declined the offer. I wasn't even wearing a bathing suit under my clothes since I didn't know we were going to the beach.

I lay down, letting the sun hit. It felt nice being here. Everything was so tranquil. No distractions, no disruptions, everything was so calm. It made me forget all of my problems, the drama, all of the negative crap that happened to me. I was happy that John asked me to come with him and the guys. I really needed this.

"Hey!"

I looked up and saw John running towards me. "What?"

"You need to swim. The water is nice out here!" John exclaimed. A couple of girls were staring at him as they giggled constantly. He turned to them and winked. "You guys should go swimming, too!" The girls almost looked like they were going to faint.

I laughed at their reactions. Kennedy came running towards us, tackling John to the ground. The girls watched as the guys began wrestling each other. Then the rest of the guys began piling on top of each other. It was very weird scenery to me, but very amusing scenery to the girls who couldn't stop staring at the guys.

After their little wrestling match, the guys rested on the sand. They all started talking about music and concerts. That reminded me of my senior project. So far, I was currently failing on finding the right band for the show. I was beginning to think that was going to be hard to pull off. I closed my eyes and told myself not to think about that right now. I hated it when my mind reminded me of this I didn't want to deal with at the moment.

Kennedy got up and tapped my shoulder. "Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked.

"In other words, will you go out with him?" Pat interjected.

He glared at Pat. I grinned and stood up. "Sure."

We walked around the shore, talking about random stuff. Kennedy wasn't so much of a bad guy after all. He was really cool to me about everything. The weird thing is that he would occasionally hold my hand or sling his arm around my shoulder as we talked. I wasn't sure if that was how he acted around friends who were girls or something else.

When we got back, John stood next to the van with his arms crossed. He didn't really look too pleased that we got back kind of late.

"You can go in the passenger seat. I'll sit with Cassidy," John ordered.

Kennedy rolled his eyes as he got in the van. I went in the last row. John took a seat next to me before closing the door.

Was the over-protective brother thing already kicking in?


End file.
